Rimfire

"Rimfire" is an almost forgotten little gem of a western. In fact, I hadn't heard of it until it's recent DVD release. It was produced by the Lippert Company and directed by the veteran B. Reeves Easton. Easton had been around films since 1915 and this was his final directorial effort. Running at a scant 63 minutes it boasts a fairly large cast of recognizable western players and contains an interesting story line.

Tom Harvey (James Millican) foils a stagecoach holdup and comes into town and takes a job as a deputy sheriff. Heroine Polly Jordan (Mary Beth Hughes, who was on the coach turns out to be the niece of the town sheriff Jim Jordan (Victor Kilian). Harvey confides int the sheriff that he is in fact an under cover army officer in search of some stolen government bullion. Harvey and Polly meanwhile, become attracted to each other.

Gambler, The Abilene Kid (Reed Hadley) who had also been on the coach, is falsely framed for cheating in a card game by saloon owner Barney Bernard (Ray Bennett) and his two henchmen Blazer (John Cason) and Toad (I. Stanford Jolley). Harvey believes in the Kid's innocence but is unable to prove it. In a trial Bernard and his two henchmen testify against him and Judge Gardner (George Cleveland) finds him guilty and sentences him to hang.

Following the Kid's execution, several of the Kid's accusers begin to be murdered by a ghostly figure believed by some to be the ghost of the Kid. A playing card in sequential order is found at the scene of each murder leading all to believe that the Kid is somehow involved. Finally Harvey discovers the identity of the murderer and.............

This was a rare opportunity for veteran character actor Millican to play the lead and romance the heroine. He had been around films since the early 1930s but is probably best remembered for his western roles (on both sides of the law) and for his distinctive speaking voice. His career was cut short by an early death in 1955 at the age of 45.

Others in the cast include Fuzzy Knight and Chris-Pin Martin as the comic relief, Henry Hull as newspaper editor Nathanial (Horace??) Greeley, Glenn Strange as the stagecoach driver and Margia Dean as Lolita a saloon girl.

Take a look at this one if you get the chance.

Ignored even when it was released this B western is akin to Audie Murphy's "No Name on the Bullet" as it is a different kind of western, actually a suspense/mystery in a western setting, not a horse opera at all. The cast is an ensemble of reliable character actors doing what they do.

This one is probably lost for ever, but it is an example of what can be accomplished on a starvation budget when a little creativity is applied.

IT'S THE WRITING, STUPID!

There's quite a lot to enjoy in this quickly paced little spooky western. It all starts with an attempt to hijack the stagecoach, one that is luckily thwarted by "Harvey" (James Millican). One of those he rescues happens to be the neice of the local sheriff, and soon he finds himself deputised. "The Abilene Kid" (Reed Hadley), meantime, gets himself into a bit of bother with some marked cards, and after a cursory court hearing under the jurisdiction of the no-nonsense "Judge Gardner" (George Cleveland) is sentenced to hang. Now the film gets interesting. He was found guilty by public acclamation (i.e. A vote of those in the courtroom, rather than by a formal jury) - 11 to 6. Shortly after his execution, some of the eleven start to go the way of the dodo - and the townsfolk start to suspect a ghost! Could it be the "Kid" back for vengeance on this who wronged him? There's a decent sub-plot about some missing gold, too - just to keep it interesting, and a little romance with "Polly" (Mary Beth Hughes). The ending is a bit rushed, but hough the production is pretty basic and the acting really unremarkable, the whole is better than the sum of the parts and we are presented with an entertaining film for an hour.

If I was writing the script of Rimfire I might have taken this story in an entirely different direction. I think the film had a lot of potential. When first looking at it I was thinking it might be a harbinger of what Clint Eastwood did in High Plains Drifter. If you remember Clint is an other world figure who exacts a terrible vengeance on everyone in his film.

Here Reed Hadley is a luckless gambler the Abilene Kid who gets himself nicely framed for a gold robbery and murder after first being falsely accused of card cheating. After that a whole lot of people start dying and their left with playing cards near the body. The spade suit is used and it goes right into the picture cards.

James Millican who is normally a good character actor is the lead here along with Hadley and he never believed Hadley was guilty. He's an army captain on detached duty for the Secret Service and sheriff Victor Killian makes him a deputy.

The ending is rather strange and disjointed as well. I will say a good red herring is given as the leader of the gang, but the final showdown left a lot to be desired.

Rimfire is interesting and certainly has its supporters, but I think it fails in the execution.

Army officer James Milican comes to the small western town. He's undercover, looking for federal gold that went missing three years earlier. Sheriff Victor Kilian swears him in as a deputy to hide his true purpose. So, however, he is distracted by Kilian's niece, Mary Beth Hughes, and the entire town is distracted when gambler Reed Hadley is tried and hanged for cheating at cards. He pronounces a curse on the town, linking gold and death before he goes. Soon people are being shot by gold bullets fired from a rimfire gun, and a playing card is always found near their bodies.

B. Reeves Eason last big-screen feature as director has a lot going for it. There's a compelling story, the sort of cast that Lippert Pictures could assemble -- Henry Hull, Chris-Pin Martin, and Jason Robards Sr. All show up -- and some nice camerawork and brisk editing. Unfortunately, it's got a lousy conclusion to the plot, indicating the editing was a mite too brisk to make sense.